


a rose by any other name would smell sweeter than this

by buoyantsaturn



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, Love Potion/Spell, M/M, Valentine's Day, Vomiting, everybody has a lot of emotions, that's a weird tag to include with the rest of these
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:41:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29182710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buoyantsaturn/pseuds/buoyantsaturn
Summary: “I’m so sorry,” Lou croaked, and spoke again before Will could tell her that she had nothing to be sorry for. “We were making this potion - Drew and I. And I know, I know, I told you that I thought she was a snob and that I didn’t like her, but I was trying to take your advice! I thought we could get along! But she tried to ask out Ellis and he turned her down, and she wanted a revenge potion, and you know how much I love revenge potions, but--” She choked and hunched over again, though nothing came up. Lou took a few more deep breaths, her eyes squeezed shut and her forehead resting on the edge of the garbage can. “It blew up.”
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 17
Kudos: 115





	a rose by any other name would smell sweeter than this

**Author's Note:**

> happy valentine's day!! this fic is a gift to everyone who nominated someone or was nominated by someone for liz's solangelo fic awards!! im still making my way through reading all the fics nominated but from what ive read yall have written some amazing stuff and you deserve so much praise for all that hard work!! i hope you enjoy this!!

When Will woke up, everything smelled like roses, so much so that it made him nauseous. He plugged his nose with his fingers and managed to wake all of his siblings and get dressed without getting too much flower-scent stuck in his nose, though he was pretty sure he was starting to taste it by the time he reached the pavilion for breakfast. 

He only had a chance to grab an apple before Miranda had grabbed his arm and started dragging him toward the infirmary, babbling something about her sister with a hand covering her mouth and nose. 

“Slow down!” Will exclaimed when Miranda tugged him forward, accidentally catching a whiff of roses again when his fingers slipped off his nose. Apparently somebody hadn’t stink-bombed the cabins, but the entire camp. “I mean, we can run, but don’t talk so fast!” 

“It’s Billie,” Miranda said with a huff, waving her hand out exasperatedly before clamping it over her nose once more. “You know how she gets those horrible migraines, and the smell is just  _ killing _ her. She almost puked once already, and I think the only reason she didn’t was because she hasn’t eaten yet.” 

The two burst into the infirmary, and Miranda quickly latched the door shut behind them. Will noticed right away that she dropped her hand from over her mouth, and hesitantly did the same. The air inside was clean, smelling like the usual antiseptic, with maybe just a touch of rose that either clung to their clothes or had burned itself into Will’s brain. Whatever the case, Will decided right away that he wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon.

Especially not when he heard how loudly Billie was sobbing. 

Miranda beat him to her sister’s side wrapping an arm around her shoulders and rubbing her arms. Will perched at the foot of the bed, placing a hand over one of the arms Billie had wrapped around her own knees. He could sense her migraine and her nausea, but there was an emotional distress there too that he couldn’t decipher. 

“How are you feeling?” Will asked, trying to keep his voice down so as to not aggravate her head, but hoping he was loud enough to still be heard over her sobs. “Is there anything I can get for you? I know ambrosia doesn’t usually work for your migraines, and you probably don’t want to eat right now, but we can try it if you’d like.” 

Billie wiped at her eyes with her sleeve and glanced up at Will. “Can… Can you go get Valentina?” 

Will blinked in surprise. “Uh, sure. Does she have some migraine trick, or something?” 

“I think Valentina’s busy today,” Miranda said softly. “The whole Aphrodite cabin has a lot going on right now.” 

Billie wailed and hid her face in her hands. Will tried not to react in any way, but it was just so weird seeing Billie like this -  _ especially _ during a migraine. Normally, she could barely move, let alone  _ sob _ like this! “Gods, you’re right, I’m such an  _ idiot!” _ she cried, and Miranda tried to soothe her, though Billie only continued. “She could never love me, why would I even think that?” 

Will frowned, prepared to stop that line of thinking right away with a, “Woah, hey--” but was interrupted when the infirmary door banged open. He could almost smell the roses immediately. He jumped to his feet with a shout of, “Close the door!” before glancing back at Miranda with a look of concern. She nodded to him, as if to say she had things handled for now, so Will went to check on the new arrivals. 

“Dude!” Cecil exclaimed, shouting over the sound of his brother’s crying. Will didn’t think he’d ever seen Connor cry, either, but there he was, sobbing into Cecil’s shoulder - and bent over at an awkward angle in order to do so. “You gotta help me! I woke up ‘cause the cabin stunk more than usual, and all of a sudden Connor started doing  _ this, _ and he won’t stop, and I don’t know what’s happening!” 

“Okay, okay,” Will said, reaching out for Connor and winding an arm around his waist to pull him toward a bed. “C’mon, Connor, let’s get you settled in over here.” 

_ “Will,” _ Connor choked out, and Will was almost knocked off his feet when Connor threw his full weight at him. He almost gagged at the scent of roses that clung to Connor’s shirt. “You’re such a good guy, man! You’re so nice, and you give such good hugs, and--” 

“Uh huh, and I’m taken, too.” Will pried himself out of Connor’s hold and sat him down on the nearest bed. 

“I know!” Connor wailed even louder than before. “You’re so  _ lucky, _ Will!”

He turned back to Cecil and demanded, “Is he  _ drunk?” _

“No!” Cecil insisted. “No way, he never drinks outside of holidays, I swear.” 

“Then what in  _ Hades _ is happening right now?” Will asked. “First Billie’s acting weird, and now Connor, and everything smells like a perfume factory  _ blew up,  _ and--” 

The door flew open once more, and Lou Ellen threw herself back against it to slam it shut. “Emergency,” she told them calmly, her face pale and practically dripping sweat. “Magic emergency.  _ Potion _ emergence--” She slapped a hand over her mouth and bolted for the nearest trash can, hunching over as she barfed into it. 

Will pointed to Connor and said to Cecil, “Stay with him,” then made his way to Lou Ellen to rub her back as she emptied her stomach. “Easy, Lou, just try to breathe. The air’s clean in here, so take deep breaths.” When a few seconds passed and Lou Ellen was no longer retching, she lifted her head. 

“I’m  _ so _ sorry,” she croaked, and spoke again before Will could tell her that she had nothing to be sorry for. “We were making this potion - Drew and I. And I know, I know, I told you that I thought she was a snob and that I didn’t like her, but I was trying to take your advice! I thought we could get along! But she tried to ask out Ellis and he turned her down, and she wanted a revenge potion, and you  _ know _ how much I  _ love _ revenge potions, but--” She choked and hunched over again, though nothing came up. Lou took a few more deep breaths, her eyes squeezed shut and her forehead resting on the edge of the garbage can. “It  _ blew up.” _

“You were making a potion before the sun was even up?” Will asked with a frown and a tilt of his head. 

“No, of course not,” she scoffed. “It had to simmer overnight. But I guess I had the heat too high, or something, because I woke up this morning to this loud banging noise, and the whole cabin was filled with smoke - I had to put myself inside a bubble just to breathe. I thought I had all the smoke cleared out, but--  _ Gods, _ Will, that stuff is  _ strong.” _

“Trust me, I noticed,” he commented. He was almost thankful for the vomit smell, since it mostly overpowered the burnt rose petal scent that would no doubt stick to Lou Ellen for a few days at least. “What was this potion supposed to do, exactly?” 

“It was supposed to be like a perfume.” Lou coughed and spit into the garbage. “Can you get me a bottle of water?” 

“Potion first.” 

Lou sighed, but pushed the trash a few inches away and leaned back against the nearest wall. “Drew was gonna wear the perfume and then ask Ellis out again, and it was supposed to, like, appeal to his emotions, or whatever. Make him super happy to be asked out, or if he rejected her again, then it would make him feel so guilty he would cry, or something. I don’t really know - Drew said it was an old Aphrodite something or other, and I hadn’t made a potion in a really long time. And I was bored and thought it would be funny to see Ellis cry. Anyway, since it, uh, exploded, it got  _ everywhere, _ and now I think the entire camp is about to experience the most overwhelming emotions they’ve ever had in their life.” 

“So,” Will pointed over his shoulder with a thumb. “Billie and Connor…” 

“Are totally fine,” Lou said, “as long as this is just the potion and not, like, something else. Billie might actually have a migraine, so that’s gotta suck on top of this. Um. And this place is probably gonna get  _ really _ crowded, since it’s the only smell-free zone.” 

Will took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. After a few seconds, he looked at Lou Ellen again and said, “Okay. You’re not affected, and this is kind of all your fault, so you’re volunteering in the infirmary all day today to deal with a bunch of whining babies of your own creation. Deal?” 

“Can I get that water before I agree?”

“Take that trash can outside, and yes.” 

Lou reached out and shook his hand. “Deal.” 

Within the hour, the infirmary filled up, nearly overflowing with sobbing campers and concerned siblings. Even Will’s own sister Kayla burst inside with a panicked look on her face, one hand clutching at her chest and the other reaching out for Will, hyperventilating as if she was having an asthma attack. He had to pull her into the storage room to help her calm down so that he could explain what was happening, and Kayla snapped out of her panic surprisingly quickly. She was out in the main room of the infirmary helping out within a few minutes. 

The day was passing in such a blur that Will didn’t remember if he’d eaten anything that day - or even what day it was - but somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he wasn’t drinking enough water. Every time he picked up his reusable water bottle, it was full and ice cold, and there was no way that anybody working that day had had the time to refill it for him, so clearly he hadn’t actually been drinking.

(Which didn’t seem right, because he definitely remembered drinking at least half the bottle when he sat down in the storage room to eat the takeout box of salad he found on his desk sometime in the afternoon. But, then again, it didn’t make sense that somebody would have had enough time to run out and bring him lunch without succumbing to the lingering potion smell outside, so maybe he was just losing his mind. Either way, a break was a break, no matter how short it ended up being.) 

The setting sun was glaring through the windows by the time Will could hear his own thoughts again. Just about everyone had either finally calmed down or cried themselves to sleep. Will was so exhausted that he kind of wanted to cry, too, but he kept fighting that feeling down just in case it was a side effect of all the rose-scent that had been carried into the infirmary anytime the door was opened. 

He had just sat down behind his desk when Kayla marched over to him with her arms crossed. “I’m not asking you to leave,” she told him.

Will frowned. “Okay?” 

“I’m telling you to.” Will opened his mouth to argue, but Kayla held up a hand to stop him. “You’ve been in here  _ all day _ \- you didn’t even get any sun! And everyone here has either calmed down or passed out, so I think I can handle everything from here. Lou Ellen already told me she’d stay a little longer, even. So go enjoy what’s left of Valentine’s Day with your boyfriend, would you?” 

Will shot to his feet, hands slamming down onto his desk. “It’s  _ Valentine’s Day?” _

Kayla startled, her eyes widening. “Uh, yeah? Why else do you think so many people would be crying over their crushes?”

“Because of a potion!” Will shouted, his arms flying around frantically.

“A  _ love _ potion! For Valentine’s Day!” 

Will ran a hand through his hair, clutching at his curls and tugging. “Oh gods,  _ Nico.” _

Kayla rolled her eyes. “Relax, I’m sure your boyfriend will forgive you.” 

“No, you don’t understand,” Will told her as he scrambled out from behind the desk. “He’s got this… This  _ thing _ with today. Sorry, I gotta-- Thanks, Kayla!” 

With that, he  _ ran. _

The rose smell hit him instantly, and he barely remembered that he shouldn’t breathe it in. He needed to make a pit stop at cabin seven before finding Nico in order to change out of his sweaty clothes. Then all thoughts completely left his mind when he ran into his cabin.

Austin was there with the younger campers, and he had just tucked Yan into bed - Will could see the tear tracks on his younger sibling’s face from across the room. There was a box fan pushed against one of the windows, but it was blowing air out of the cabin rather than in - probably in an attempt to force all the rose smell outside, though Will wasn’t sure how effective that could be. Besides, he could still smell the roses pretty well, even after he’d shut the door behind himself.

_ Gods, Will, stop breathing through your nose! _

Then he looked toward the other side of the cabin, toward his own bunk, and froze. It looked like a CVS Valentine’s Day aisle had thrown up. There were red and pink and white heart decorations strung across the underside of the upper bunk and wrapped around the bedposts. There were giant teddy bears holding hearts that all said  _ I love you beary much. _ Will counted at least ten heart-shaped boxes of chocolate from across the room, and was certain there were more. 

He choked, and then all of the tears he’d been holding in poured out of him as he started to sob. He thought he might have heard Austin whisper, “Oh gods, not again,” before he was being pulled into a hug. 

“Deep breaths, Will,” Austin said, patting his back comfortingly. “Through your mouth, not your nose.” 

“I’m the worst boyfriend  _ ever,” _ Will whined, trying to keep his voice down but struggling. “How do you forget about  _ Valentine’s Day _ when you live across from the  _ Aphrodite cabin?” _

“Dude, the day’s not over yet, you still have time.” Austin pulled back, clapping Will on the shoulder, and Will was able to get a good look at his brother. Austin was wearing one of those swimmer’s nose plugs. No wonder he was acting so  _ calm _ and  _ rational. _ “Go find him and apologize. And maybe grab one of those boxes of chocolate so you’re not showing up empty handed.” 

“You’re a  _ genius,” _ Will told him as he wiped at his eyes with his sleeve. He rushed over to his bed and grabbed one box, then another, then a few more and one of the bears just to be safe, and ran back out the door when Austin held it open for him. 

Will ran to the Hades cabin, and had to kick at the base of the door since he didn’t have a free hand to knock. He hoped Nico wasn’t mad at him. He didn’t  _ mean _ to miss Valentine’s Day, and Nico would understand that there had been a medical emergency, right? Except that it was hardly medical, and Will hadn’t done much aside from checking campers into the infirmary and passing out water to make sure everyone stayed hydrated with all the crying. Gods, he really was the worst boyfriend ever, wasn’t he?

He didn’t even register that he’d started crying again - had he ever actually stopped? - but the look on Nico’s face made him let out a sob. He had the nicest, prettiest, funniest boyfriend in the  _ world, _ and Will didn’t deserve him. Nico looked so cute standing there with the cuff of his sweatshirt sleeve held over his mouth and nose to keep out the smell, and Will hardly even had the chance to appreciate the sight - maybe for the last time if Nico broke up with him over this - before Nico was dragging him inside. 

“Are you okay?” Nico asked as he dropped his hand, allowing Will to see his entire face. 

Will tried to hold back his tears, but it only made his lower lip quiver until the cries broke out of him once more. “I’m sorry,” he wailed. “I’m sorry that I’m such a terrible boyfriend, and that I wasn’t there for you today. I know you hate Valentine’s Day, but I wanted to do something with you today to make it better, and then I was stuck in the infirmary, and I’m  _ so sorry.” _

Nico’s eyes were wide, probably from the surprise of seeing Will in such a state. He tipped his head back toward the rest of the cabin and said, “Um. Let’s sit down, okay?” 

Will nodded and followed Nico toward his bed, though when he sat down, he jumped right back up again. “No, wait! I’m all sweaty and gross from being in the infirmary all day! I can’t believe I forgot to change. I’m sorry, you don’t want me sitting on your bed when I’m so gross.” 

“I don’t care,” Nico replied with a frown. “I sit on my bed after coming back from training all the time. So what if you’re a little sweaty?”

Will sniffled. “But...but--” 

Nico stood again and said, “Okay, give me this.” He took the chocolates and the teddy bear from Will’s hands and set them on the mattress, then turned back to Will. He took Will’s face in his hands and wiped away his boyfriend’s tears with his thumbs. “Do you want to change?” 

Will nodded quickly. “Yeah, I’ll just go back to my cabin. I’ll be right back. Unless you don’t want me to come back, and that’s okay too. You’re probably mad at me anyway, so I guess I won’t come back.” 

“Will.” Nico jabbed him in the stomach with his pointer finger to snap Will out of it. “I’m not mad. Just hold on a second.” 

Will rubbed at his stomach while Nico marched over to his closet and threw open the doors. It wasn’t quite a walk-in closet - more of a  _ step- _ in - but there was more than enough room for all of Nico’s clothes. Especially considering he only had, like, five outfits. Nico emerged with a dark orange hoodie and a pair of plain grey sweatpants, which he handed over to Will. 

Will frowned at the familiar Longhorn logo. “Hey, I’ve been looking for this.” Was Nico giving it back because he was breaking up with him?

“Don’t worry about it,” Nico told him quickly, then pushed him further into the cabin toward an interior door. “Just go change in the bathroom and calm down a little. I’ll be right here when you’re ready.” 

“Okay,” Will replied, and then he was alone in the bathroom.

He took a few deep breaths before he even thought about moving, and felt his head start to clear almost instantly. He must have breathed in more of that potion than he’d thought. Was that stuff  _ ever _ going to dissipate?

Will changed out of his scrubs and into the clothes from Nico, then splashed some warm water on his face. His breathing was still a bit shaky anytime he took too deep of a breath, but he didn’t think he was at risk of bursting into tears again, so he left the bathroom with his dirty clothes bundled up in his arms. 

Nico jumped to his feet when he saw the door opening, and took Will’s clothes from him to drop in the hamper. Then he took Will’s hand and pulled him back to the bed where they sat down beside each other. Nico kept a hold on Will’s hand as he asked, “Are you okay now?” 

Will nodded and tried for a smile. “I think so. I think I just got a little crazy from the… You know, the love potion that was in the air?  _ Oh my gods there was a love potion released at camp.” _ Will took Nico’s face in his hands and leaned in close to meet his eyes. “Are you okay? It was airborne, and it was making everybody crazy because Lou accidentally blew it up, and--”

“I’m okay,” Nico told him, pulling Will’s hands away and holding them in his lap. “I knew about it.” 

“You knew?” Will squeezed Nico’s hands. “Were you affected by it? Are you feeling okay?” 

“Yeah, I’m fine. I mean, I am  _ now. _ I had all my windows closed last night, so I didn’t notice anything until I went outside. It made me a little... _ panicky _ at first, so…” Nico ducked his head. “I sort of...ran away, for a little while. I know I should’ve found you, or told somebody that I was leaving instead, but the smell was-- So I left camp, because I figured it was just a prank or something, so I went to the city because I thought getting away from everything would make me feel better.” 

Will’s thumbs started stroking the backs of Nico’s hands. “Well, I guess this time I can give you a pass for disappearing, since it helped.” 

Nico still didn’t meet his eyes, and instead glanced toward the window. “I mean, it  _ didn’t. _ Not right away, because that potion was still in my system, I guess. But I  _ did _ learn that mortals are kind of insane about Valentine’s Day, and, um. I guess my emotions got a little out of hand and made me go overboard getting all that stuff for you.” 

Will’s eyes widened. “That stuff was  _ all _ from you?” He reached back for the teddy bear and held it up between them. “There were, like, six of these things! Did you clear out that entire store?” 

Nico’s cheeks were suddenly  _ very _ pink. “Um. Maybe? That potion did funny things to my head, okay? And it’s not like I  _ stole _ anything. My dad gave me a...money...card thing, and I’ve never really needed it for anything. But I thought, maybe, you would like this stuff? It’s, like, romantic or whatever, right?” 

Will grinned, and was apparently silent for so long that Nico started to worry enough that he glanced up at him. “I can’t believe you did that for me,” Will told him softly, squeezing the teddy bear to his chest. “I really am sorry that I ditched you today, though.” 

Nico shook his head. “No, don’t worry about that. You didn’t ditch me. I, um. I stopped by a few times to see if I could help with anything, but I guess seeing you and being around that potion again made me feel all... _ weird _ again, so I, well. I tried helping in other ways, I guess. I brought you lunch and filled up your water bottle a few times, since you’re always bugging me about making sure I eat and drink enough.” 

“You…” Will’s eyes widened. “Oh, thank the  _ gods,  _ I thought I was going crazy for a minute there. You could’ve stuck around and had lunch with me - the infirmary was mostly potion-free, so you would’ve been fine.” Nico shrugged, dropping his gaze again. “Wait, you said it made you feel weird? What kind of weird? Not like, sad or crazy like everybody else, right?” 

“No, not after I left for a little while,” Nico told him, his voice steadily growing quieter. “It was just like… Whenever I saw you, I wanted to steal you away so that we could hide here and watch movies all day, and I--” Nico turned his head away and mumbled something else that Will couldn’t hear, even when he was listening so intently. 

He leaned in closer and said, “Sorry, what was that?” 

Nico had turned bright red, and still refused to meet Will’s eyes. “Every time I saw you, I...wanted to kiss you.” 

“You did?” Will smiled and set the teddy bear aside so that there was nothing between them. “Well, do you still want to?” 

Nico’s eyes widened, flickering back and forth between looking at Will and looking away. “Oh, um. I, uh, I dunno, I--” 

Will set a hand on Nico’s cheek and brought their lips together for just a second before he moved back again. They’d shared a few private kisses, mostly because Nico wasn’t willing to do much more than hold hands in public, but Will didn't think he would ever get tired of the way Nico blushed whenever he was kissed. His whole face turned tomato red, all the way up to the tips of his ears and down past the collar of his shirt. 

“Darlin’,” Will whispered, his thumb brushing across Nico’s cheek, “you know you can kiss me anytime you want.” 

Nico turned away from Will’s touch and buried his face in his hands before he tipped forward to hide against Will’s chest. “Okay, uh. Just give me a minute, and then I’m gonna kiss you  _ so _ much.” 

“Take your time,” Will told him, then pressed another kiss to the side of his head. “I’m just gonna crack into these chocolates while you’re cooling down - which, by the way? This is  _ way _ too much sugar for one person, so I guess that means you’re gonna have to help me eat all this.” 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!!
> 
> and thanks to everyone who nominated me or voted for any of my fics for liz's awards!! it means so much to me that yall like my writing so much, and i'm glad i get to share it!!  
> (also im uploading this on the 13th so an early congrats to whoever wins!!)


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